Blog

Small Towns, Big Fans

Just like the whole B1G Ten conference, Hawkeye football is
teeming with traditions and legacies rooted in our deep college football
history dating back to 1889. Iowa - a small state without any
professional sports teams to claim our own - has been informally deemed the
"Hawkeye State" thanks to the wonderful fan support Iowa football has garnered through generations. Although I'm not an Iowa native, I've witnessed week after week just how contagious Hawkeye pride is, and this weekend I was honored to share some of Iowa's traditions with the B1G
Ten Mobile Tour and reassure the conference that they made the right choice
naming Iowa to the "Legends" division!

A night game victory against the big city-dwelling Northwestern Wildcats
was the perfect way to prove just how seriously Hawkeye football is taken in
this state -- from tailgating to post-game, Iowa fans have made celebrating game weekends an art. The Mobile Tour crew enjoyed a long afternoon setup outside
historic Kinnick Stadium meeting and greeting faithful Iowa fans and
introducing them to one of the B1G Ten's newest traditions - the Stagg-Paterno
championship trophy

Parked right outside the entrance to Kinnick, the bus and the trophy attracted lots of attention from tailgaters throughout the day. By the time we set up at 1 p.m., we soon realized some of the Hawkeyes' most faithful fans had been relishing in the gameday atmosphere since before 8 a.m. -- and kickoff wasn't even until 6! To stay energized, some members of the crew relied on one of Iowa's longstanding traditional tailgate meals -- a big turkey leg!

With just a few traces of Wildcat purple, black and gold flooded the streets of Iowa City, and the B1G Ten crew was impressed by the Hawkeyes' fabulous fan showing!

Once we wrapped up outside, we followed the masses of black and gold into Kinnick to watch the Hawkeyes battle Northwestern! For a view from the sidelines, click here.

The only thing Iowans might love more than Hawkeye football is their sustainable farmers, without whom we'd all go hungry! To show this homeland pride, it has become a pre-game tradition to honor the America Needs Farmers movement during the National Anthem.

Even the Hawkeyes' ex-quarterback Ricky Stanzi and a few other Iowa football veterans came back to cheer on their Alma Mater!

A 41-31 victory over the Wildcats was the perfect way to end the B1G Ten tour's visit to Iowa City. We were honored to host the B1G Ten Championship Stagg-Paterno trophy, and hopefully we will see it permanently back in Iowa City soon!